The finance ministers also won support for more money from European Union allies, but fell short of its 200-billion-euro ($262.4 billion) target after Britain bowed out.

The ministers had set an informal deadline of today to arrive at the 200-billion target, which was agreed by EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on December 9, and urged other nations to take part.

Following a three-hour conference call, they said the Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland and Sweden also would grant loans to the IMF to help save the 17-nation zone.

But those lenders must first win parliamentary approval, and Britain made it clear it would not participate in the plan.

"Euro area member states will provide 150 billion euros of additional resources through bilateral loans to the fund's general resources account," the ministers said in a joint statement.

"The EU would welcome G20 members and other financially strong IMF members to support the efforts to safeguard global financial stability by contributing to the increase in IMF resources."

That leaves the eurozone more reliant than ever on major economies such as China and Russia, which has shown willingness to lend more to the IMF.

An IMF spokesperson said the lender welcomed the deal "as we work to strengthen our capacity to fulfil our systemic responsibilities to our global membership".

British Treasury sources said Britain had decided not to contribute to an increase in IMF resources.

Britain's share, based on IMF quotas determined by wealth and size, would be about 30 billion euros.

"We were clear that we would not be making a contribution," one Treasury source said, while another added that there was "no agreement on the 200 billion" figure.

The EU was more diplomatic, however, saying in its statement that London would take a decision on the issue early in the new year in the framework of the Group of 20 economies.

The increase in IMF resources is seen as one element of a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen the eurozone's debt-fighting capability and build better defences for the future.

Another pillar is making the eurozone's existing bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), more flexible in how it tackles the debt debacle.

'Morbid speculation'

Speaking during testimony to the European Parliament, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi praised EU efforts to forge a new "fiscal compact" as a solid base for responding to the crisis, and called the euro an "irreversible" project.

"I have no doubt whatsoever about the strength of the euro, about its permanence, about its irreversibility," Mr Draghi said.

"You have a lot of people, especially outside the euro area, who really spend a lot of time in what I think is morbid speculation, namely, what happens if? And they all have catastrophic scenarios for the euro area."

But he said bond market pressure on the euro zone would be "very significant" in the first quarter.

Mr Draghi spoke while EU ministers were still on their conference call, with discussions also looking at issues surrounding the eurozone's permanent bailout fund, with Finland unhappy about plans to weaken the unanimity rule governing how the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is run.

Finland's opposition, if not overcome, could scupper efforts to bring the ESM into force in July 2012, a year earlier than planned, to step up crisis-fighting efforts.

But the primary focus of debate was about the increase in IMF resources, with concerns growing that the EFSF is insufficient to handle the debt problems and with too long to wait until the permanent mechanism is up and running.